So Far Away
by Crazy-Fool
Summary: Hermione almost dies, but someone saves her.This is about her quest to find her knight in shining armour.
1. The Beginning

This is my 4rd fic now, but I haven't written in ages so it may not be that great. Please do R&R and if you like check out my other 2 stories and 1 short piece of writing. You can flame if you really want, but I do prefer constructive criticism!  
  
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Chapter One  
  
As Hermione drifted alone from room to room, she felt eyes upon her. Some pitiful, some insensitive, and other scoffing at the dark shadows beneath her eyes and dark scars beneath the surface. After losing her friends though neglect, she had lost the will to study, but still spent hours upon hours in the library writing. It was the only thing keeping her limp form alive, the creativity flowing through her veins. Today was no different. She sat by herself at "Hermione's Hole" as many of her classmates liked to call it, not in a nice fashion, and scribbled furiously at a piece of paper she had brought from home, continuing with her work.  
  
She wrote lots of stuff, from lyrics to stories, but no one ever had any interest in them. If she was back in a muggle school where she felt things might have been easier, she could have shown her English teacher and her parents when she got home. She missed her parents so much, they had just been blessed with a beautiful baby daughter and it hurt Hermione that she couldn't grow up with her. Amelia will barely remember her in future years, just like the other students. She was already disappearing and being forgotten.  
  
She heard giggles coming from the table behind the bookshelf in front of her and saw a tangled mess of black hair pressed up to the other side of the bookcase. Of course, it would be Harry and the object of his desires, Ginny Weasly. Hermione really did wish they would do it somewhere else, considering. Suddenly the black vanished and was replaced by long flowing fiery locks and Hermione's heart jolted. Biting the inside of her bottom lip Hermione remembered all of what Ginny had ever said to her, the nights they had shared alone together. It had been almost a year since Ginny had literally stepped away from her, and linked arms with Harry. She had walked off towards the lake with him, leaving Hermione gazing after them. Ginny had looked back, her eyes showing more emotions than words could tell, but her desire for Harry overcame returned and she faced him again. Remembering the hateful look Harry had given Hermione moments after brought tears to her eyes, which splashed solemnly on to her paper, pain spelled out in rough scribbles.  
  
Hermione couldn't stand it any longer, in that desolate place, and packed her things away quickly and ran out of the library, followed by a glare from Madam Pince and whispers from students. She ran through the passages, knowing not where she was going but being certain of it all at once. To the Griffindor common room where she hastily shoved her bag under her bed, hoping that some one would find it later, and stumbled out of the portrait hole. Who did she meet on the way in but two sickly lovers, hand in hand, gazing in to each other's eyes. She paused, half way through, seeing Ginny's happy face and remembering a time when it was her who had caused it. Feeling the sadness and longing welling back up inside her she flew out of the portrait hole quickly, knocking in to them and causing sounds of anger and she turned round just in time to catch the filthy look on both their faces. She turned back and began to slouch down the stairs.  
  
"Where did you go wrong?"  
  
The voice caught her by surprise, whirling round she saw Harry by himself.  
  
She was lost for words.  
  
"I mean, look at you. You're pathetic." And with that he turned away shaking his head and clambered through the hole, the fat lady closing behind him. She stood there, dumbstruck for a moment, before the painting said, "He's right, you know."  
  
And with those words Hermione flung herself down the stairs and burst out in to the dingy grounds.  
  
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So there you go, chapter one, I hope they will get longer, I just thought that it was a good stopping point here. 


	2. Almost The End

Ok 2nd chapter I am aiming for it to be a little longer. But as I always say that, I doubt it will be!  
  
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Stumbling over rocks, slipping and sliding in the dank mud she hurtled towards the lake, the cool water being turned to froth by the harsh wind and rain. Slipping one final time and losing her balance she fell head first into the freezing lake. Feeling the water engulf her, a sense of calm overcame Hermione. Her salty tears mixed with the fresh water, and the cold bit at her skin when she emerged, spluttering.  
  
Suddenly she thought, "Why am I struggling? Why am I bothering to try and save my pathetic self?" At that moment, everything moved in slow motion. Hermione for the first time in years felt the rain on her skin, tiny droplets just drifting down past her and splashing into the water. Leaves swirled almost daintily around the trees, everything was real to her. The numbness had left her heart in an explosion of agony, pain pulsed though her veins making a cry escape her lips and she purposefully gave up her struggle completely as a strong current pulled her under the surface . . .  
  
*POV Switch*  
  
I was sitting up on my window ledge, thinking, as I normally do when it rains, I find the rain relaxes me even when it was a storm such as tonight's, when I heard the scream. It wasn't a long piercing scream, nor a short shout, but a cry tinged with pain and years of suffering let out in one go. I could hear the distress in the voice though, and immediately sought out the location of the person. It came from down by the lake, which worried me as the cry had been cut short. It was a surprise I heard it at all, what with the noise of the storm and the sore throat from which the tortured sound had emerged. A good job my window is near.  
  
So I knew I had to do something about this person, whoever they may be, pure blood or not (for that is not my care but my families), so I called my broomstick and cloak to me, dressed, and pushed off out of the window. Hurtling down to the grounds I could see the skids in the mud where someone rushed out of the school and I followed them at my brooms top speed until I reached the lake where I dismounted and plunged into the watery depths.  
  
Cursing, I realized that I had not learnt the spell to aid my breathing. So I had to rely on my own lung capacity. I could however use my wand to light my way. Beneath the surface, all was far from calm. The mud along the bottom of the shallows was churned by the struggle, so I could barely see my pale hands in front of my face. But I caught sight of a flash of black; it could have been anything but it was all I had to go on so I went up for breath a dived down towards it. I soon saw a young woman, drifting slowly to the bottom, dressed in black jeans and a black sweatshirt. Feeling my breath running out I panicked and grabbed hold of her around the waist and kicked as hard as I could, feeling the water rushing past me and the added weight of the woman. I suddenly realized what it was that was making it so difficult, her sweatshirt. I tore it off her and felt the weight lighten immensely. It was then that my wand went out. Puzzled as I was by this, I had no time to stop and check.  
  
As I burst through the surface of the water I was greeted by an explosion of thunder, the storm had gotten worse. I dragged her through the choppy water and placed her carefully in the mud on the bank. In a flash of lightning I saw the face of Hermione Granger lit up in full, and I gasped. She had 3 long gashes across her chest and stomach, from what I could see there may have been more underneath her sports bra, which would mean that they hadn't been done during her fall. But I had no time for contemplation, because she wasn't breathing and my wand was broken . . .  
  
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Oh no, what will happen? Please R it really, really helps me. Thanks for reading this, even if you don't R&R. 


	3. Awake

OK Chap 3 and I have hardly any reviews ( please review, it does help me!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters or anything except the plot, ok?  
  
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*Hermione's POV*  
  
She awoke to find herself half naked on the muddy bank of the lake. There was a red tinge in the early morning sky, a bird singing somewhere in the outskirts of the forest, and a there was calming atmosphere. She felt relaxed, and groaned as her wound opened up again when she sat up. A chill wind numbed her skin. It was then that she realized that she felt calm and relaxed. She felt calm and relaxed. And then it all flooded back to her. The night before, her brush with death itself, something that she had wanted the comfort of for so long but when the time came, she felt relieved she was still here, curled up in the mud. She felt relieved.  
  
It was amazing to feel such small things, but for them to be such big steps. Having felt nothing for the past god knows how long, the tiniest emotion sparked off a whole array of others, sorrow, pain, love, happiness. Happiness. A sensation sweeter than any she had ever felt. For the lack of feeling for so long, the return filled her with emotion. Swirling around her head, so many different things, a smile broke out across her face. The first smile in so long.  
  
After a while, it struck Hermione that she did not know how the hell she had got there. Last thing she knew, her world was being swallowed up around her as she sunk slowly into what should be her watery grave. Her vision had blacked, her mind emptied of all thoughts and she could have sworn that she died. But yet here she was, quite sure she was still living as the cold penetrated her skin. After many thoughts, she decided someone must have come across her and saved her, because the squid was not that sort of animal and the only creatures in the forest that she knew of capable of saving her would be centaurs. And they would not bother themselves with anything human anymore. It can't have been a student; they would need amazing magical powers. But surely a teacher would have taken her straight to the hospital wing . . . so it must have been a student. She suddenly sat bolt upright. "Harry" she whispered, "no other student.." She leapt to her feet and winced at the pain of her cuts as she hobbled through the dark shadows towards the castle, constantly thanking Harry, God, Merlin and everyone for saving her. She could go straight to the common room and see him and Ginny and . . . then it came back to her. She remembered why she was numb in the 1st place. She remembered just how much pain she had been going through and it tore its way into her heart once more. Stopping dead in her tracks, she shivered. Tears prickled in here eyes as she remembered Harry's words, Ginny's eyes as she walked away, everything. Slumping down in a corner she let the salty tears drop onto her tattered, muddy clothes. Drifting off to sleep she knew that someone was bound to see her curled up there, but at that moment in time she didn't care. She drifted off into what started as a blissful sleep, but soon turned into a nightmare. Reliving those moments again and again . . .  
  
*POV Switch*  
  
Once again I found myself unable to sleep, but this was not from pain but from thoughts. I couldn't stop thinking about last night. I had not, and still do not know her motives, for I had been distant from the goings-on at Hogwarts for quite some time now, but I needed to. I couldn't tell her it was me. I had left no sign so I should be safe, but I have to find out about her. Father always said never to associate wit mudbloods (how I detest that phrase) so Merlin only knows what he would say if he found out I saved one's life. He thinks they all deserve to die. Just because of the fact that their parents are muggles. It really is pathetic. I despise my father.  
  
Walking along, I come across Hermione, slumped in a corner of the dungeon passageway. Crouching down I take the time to for once look at the young woman properly. Her busy hair matted and clumped, eyelids fluttering gently but by her jerks I assume her dreams are not pleasant. I have to move her, I cannot let any student see her in this state, it will arouse to many questions. I pick her up (with magic, of course) and take her into a classroom, where I lay her on a desk and try as hard as I can to vaguely dignify her. Put her in school robes and wipe the dried dirt off her face and limbs. I feel ashamed at not letting her know who her rescuer is. So I decide to leave her something. I wrote her a small note, carefully so as not to reveal myself by my trademark writing, and left it tucked neatly into her pocket. As I sat her down on a window ledge on the ground floor she began to stir and moan as she woke up, I tiptoed away as fast as I possibly could, as waiting around the corner I heard her mutter something and then footsteps echoed off into the distant corridors. I smiled to myself and sauntered back to the common room, it was about time I got back.  
  
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So there we have it, another chapter, probably rubbish, but I don't know. Please R&R, but I warn you; I am not in the mood for flames. 


	4. Authors Note

Ok I am finishing this story here as I have had basically no reviews, the 2 I got were good but unfortunately it's not much incentive for me to carry on as I guess no-one has been reading this. In fact, I doubt anyone has even read this!  
  
So goodbye everyone, have a nice life! 


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